What IS a Salt Pig Anyway?!?

A couple of days ago I shared the last 10 pictures on my phone, and one of them was of my new salt pig. The question has been asked, “What IS a salt pig anyway?!?”

The simple answer: a salt pig is an earthenware jar that stores salt. The salt is covered, so it’s protected from dust and drips. The jar has an opening on the side that is big enough for you to reach in with your fingers to get the salt, or you can use a spoon. (I like salting my food by hand instead of with a salt shaker.)

Here are my two salt pigs!

The smaller one on the left came from Canterbury Pottery in Canterbury, England. I bought it several years ago when we lived in England. The salt PIG(!) on the right is the one I just purchased from Meesh’s Pottery via Etsy. It makes me smile every time I see it!

I can’t believe how well they match! I’m using the smaller one to hold salt and the larger one to hold nutritional yeast. I frequently use both of those ingredients when I cook, and I like having them handy.

Here’s where I keep them. This little grouping is one of my favorite things in my entire house. It makes me smile every single day!

I like using the antique cake plate to get a few items up off the counter. And it’s pretty, so there’s that! (The cake plate is holding white wine vinegar, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, a pepper grinder, and the smaller salt pig.)

I live in Coastal Georgia where we have serious humidity, and I’ve not had a problem with the salt clumping. Just in case you were curious.

A final bit of information that you might like to know: salt cellars are similar to salt pigs. From the online research I’ve done (highly scientific, that), it seems that salt cellars tend to look more like regular bowls while salt pigs are covered and have that side opening I mentioned earlier. The two terms seem to be interchangeable though.

Now you know!

Do you use a salt pig? Do you use it to hold salt or something else? Chime in below and tell me about it!

5 thoughts on “What IS a Salt Pig Anyway?!?”

No salt pig for me! I do have three containers that I purchased in Italy on our 1999 trip: one for coffee, one for sugar, and one for salt. I use it to store kosher salt. Then I have a smaller IKEA container to store my homemade truvia.